"I have not done a good job my entire career of listening to other people's expectations,'' Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly has matched former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz with a 28-10 record through his first 38 games in South Bend, Ind. With a win over Alabama, Kelly would lead the Irish to their first title since Holtz went 12-0 in 1988.AP Photo

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — More than 100 media members filtered out of a cool, gray Midwestern morning and into Notre Dame's Isban Auditorium at the Guglielmino Athletics Complex on Monday.

Local, regional, and yes, national media, were back on the campus of the Golden Dome for press conferences related to Notre Dame's pending appearance in the BCS National Championship Game.

The room fell silent as Kelly descended the steps of the auditorium, where the Notre Dame players would meet just a few hours later to review bowl practice plans.

Kelly, dapper in a navy blazer and lavender shirt, expertly took to the microphone to address his audience.

"Usually as a football coach it's on your first day on the job that you get this kind of media attention,'' said Kelly, who's 28-10 since taking over the Notre Dame program in 2010. "We're not announcing anything that relates to the coaching, but certainly about our football team and our team earning the opportunity to play for a national championship.''

It was not supposed to happen this fast — Notre Dame was nowhere to be found in the preseason Top 25 rankings.

Many believed the Irish were a season, maybe two, from making the kind of run it takes to play for college football's Crystal Ball.

"That was brought up to me,'' Kelly said. "Those words were clearly in my ear.

"But I have not done a good job my entire career of listening to other people's expectations,'' he said. "I had set my own expectations for what we wanted to accomplish, and we went about it that way.''

Kelly has always done things his own way, from his years at Grand Valley State — 1987-1990 as an assistant, 1991-2003 as a head coach — and on to Central Michigan (2004-2006) and Cincinnati (2006-2009).

Much was learned, but not enough for Kelly to know exactly what he was getting into at Notre Dame and what it would take to succeed.

"I had 19 years of head coaching experience when I got here; I thought that would prepare me,'' Kelly said. "I think it did in a lot of areas, but not in all the areas necessary to be the head coach at Notre Dame.''

No doubt, the demands were different, right from the onset. Kelly, an energetic 51, set to work trying to please all of the people all of the time.

The Irish were improving, moving closer to collegiate football's spotlight with consecutive 8-5 seasons, but it wasn't until after last season that Kelly made a shining realization.

"I think the job tends to distract you,'' Kelly said. "There are a lot of things that pull you away from the primary reason why you want to be head coach of Notre Dame, and that is graduate your players and play for a National Championship.

"Now, to do that you have to have the pulse of your football team and you've got to have relationships with your players,'' he said. "If you're already going around the country doing other things other than working with your football team, it's hard to have the pulse of your team.

"So I made it a point that I was going to spend more time with our team this year…for me, that is why it's been the most enjoyable year as the head coach at Notre Dame, is that I got a chance to spend more time with my team.''

Notre Dame's story is well-documented, with more to come in the ensuing weeks as tradition is canvassed and Xs and Os broken down in most every conceivable fashion.

As complex as it all might seem by the time the game is finally kicked off, Kelly points to a basic component as key to the team's success.

"What we have done this year more than anything else is our guys care about each other,'' he said. "When you care about each other you have a chance to be a good football team.

"That came together this year.''

Like no other Notre Dame football team since 1988, when former coach Lou Holtz led the Irish to a 12-0 record and their most recent national championship.